Starbucks Plans To Hire 10,000 Veterans, Military Spouses

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX), the world’s largest coffee company, announced its commitment to focus its hiring among military veterans and active duty spouses and plans to employ at least 10,000 individuals over the next five years.

Starbucks expanding business

The coffee company is aiming to further expand its business operations around the world and its target is to increase its current global workforce of 200,000 to 500,000. Howard Schultz, chairman and CEO of Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) said, “As I look at the opportunity ahead of us, we’re going to need to hire men and women with like-minded values and the right job skills in order to continue our current levels of growth.”

Schultz believes that the diverse background and experience of more than one million transitioning U.S. veterans and almost 1.5 million military spouses share the mission-driven sensibility and work ethic of Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX). He said the military veterans and spouses have the ability to build long-term careers in the company.

Starbucks’ career development strategy

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) will establish an internal infrastructure to match the transferable skill sets of veterans and spouses with specific talent across the company as part of its multi-year hiring and career development strategy.

The company also plans to expand its monitoring programs offered through its partnership with the Armed Forces Network, which is dedicated in ensuring that new employees have access to information and resources they need to succeed.

Haley Drage, spokesperson for Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) said the company currently employs thousands of veterans in its coffee shops and corporate offices. According to Drage, the new program will allow the company to identify and monitor the number of former-military employed across the company.

Robert Gates on Starbucks’ plans

Meanwhile, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates commented, “Veterans and military spouses represent one of the most underutilized talent pools in our country, without the proper career path, they will continue to go untapped. Companies like Starbucks recognizes this opportunity and are moving swiftly and aggressively to match the jobs they will create in the future with the talent returning to America over the next several years.”

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) also announced two of its coffee shops have been transformed into community stores – one is located in Lakewood, Washington, and the other is located in San Antonio, Texas. These stores will start contributing a portion of every transaction to the goodwill programs of Operation Good Jobs and Vested in Vets. The company has several other community coffee shops across the country. Its coffee shop located in the Central District of Seattle is contributing $0.15 of every transaction to YWCA programs.